Don't call him emo
by Violet-san
Summary: A little story about how Nico deals with his daily life in school. Set two years after book five without 'The Lost Hero' happening  and only contains spoilers for book three and maybe four .


_Hey guys~_

_Another Percy Jackson story of mine, this time (only) about Nico, my favorite character. x3  
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_Warning: You should've read the third (and if possible the fourth) book, as there is a major spoiler (and of course there is Nicos personality itself as it changes so drastically after the third book). Also, I know that technically, 'emo' is a style of music, the fanfiction only deals with the stereotype._

_Nico and Percy (and Hades, kinda) belong to Rick Riordan and so on... but anyway, I hope you'll like the story and/or leave some kind of feedback, please...? ^^  
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**Don't call him emo**

If there was one thing Nico di Angelo hated in his school, it was being called an emo.

Sure, he was pale, as if he disliked the sun (which actually wasn't that wrong as he really preferred the shadows), had black hair and always wore black clothes and a silver skull ring, but that was just his appearance, and he liked it this way. Except for not exactly smiling a lot (i.e. never smiling, at least not in school) he didn't even fit another of those stupid stereotypes. As if he'd start bawling about something stupid or even _think_ about cutting his wrists.

And if you're wondering why he even thought about such a thing, here's the story:

When Nico wasn't at the Underworld, travelling or together with his friends - aka Percy, mostly - he went to a normal school in New York City just like most of the other demigods. But it clearly wasn't his favorite place.

First of all, even though he was only fifteen, being together with so many people older than him during the summer, saving the world etcetera, he simply _felt_ older... and he probably behaved more mature than most of these kiddies here, too.

And second, he didn't actually have anyone he could talk to. Not that he would've wanted one of the people here being his friend or something like that, but sometimes he felt a little bit lonely as he sat in a corner of the schoolyard, waiting for the break to be over and watching out for signs of monsters or anything else life threatening.

But besides that, he had another problem. Well, not exactly a problem, he could've solved it easily, but if he did it his way, he would probably start a commotion. Not a good idea for a student, who just transferred here recently.

Anyway, the problem was called Mike Adams and it was the recent school bully. Sure, he noticed pretty fast that Nico wasn't someone you could easily pick on - years of sword training and killing monsters might've helped with that - but after he understood that he wasn't good enough to bully him physically, he tried it by calling him names.

At first it didn't really bother the young demigod, since most of the names where stupid anyway. But he got a bit touchy if the matter was death. So he really didn't like it as Mike one day proclaimed that the 'strange newcomer' must be an emo, since he wore all black and everything. That alone wouldn't have been a real problem though, but as the bully started to spread rumors of how Nico probably cut himself too and would love to die and so on, he slowly started to get really annoyed by it. Which of course caused Mike to increase the rumors.

And it wasn't as if Nico had someone he could tell these things, as his father was the Lord of the Underworld, so he had more important things to do and his mother was... well, dead. Just like his sister... Sure, Percy would've listened to him but he probably had his own problems right now and Nico didn't want to be a bother. So he kept to himself, knowing that one day he would very likely explode.

So in the end, exactly that happened.

It started pretty normal, a simple day of school. Trying to spell words and names correctly - which really wasn't easy if you were dyslexic - and solving stupid equations he would never need again. Ever. But then lunch break came.

As always, Nico was sitting somewhere pretty far away from the others in some kind of corner, where he couldn't be seen by most of the people at the schoolyard. He liked that place, since it was in the shadows all day and nobody bothered him here when he was reading some nice book in Ancient Greek -the only language where he didn't have his dyslexia problems.

Well, at least normally no one did. Today, it was different.

Just as the son of Hades opened his book, he saw a movement in the corner of his eyes. He looked up and barely held back a groan. Mike had just turned around the corner, walking right in his direction. Great...

"Hey, emo-boy!", he said, while grinning some kind of 'Oh look how dumb I am thinking I can make witty remarks!'-grin. Rolling his eyes, Nico ignored him. Maybe he would get bored and go away?

But no such luck, instead, the bully just walked faster until he finally stood right in front of the slightly younger boy, who sighed and closed his book, memorizing the number of the page he just read.

"What do you want? Are you already bored with stealing the lunch money from children younger than you?", he asked, not the slightest bit afraid of the bigger guy. He had faced - and killed - monsters thrice as big as that and probably faster, so no need to get all worked up about Mr. Bully here. But that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed. And Mike knew that too.

"Oh, nothing much... just wanting to see you, aren't you happy?", he drawled, still grinning. Then his gaze turned to the now closed book and he furrowed his brows, probably trying to understand the ancient Greek characters. "What's this? Don't tell me your little dyslexic brain actually tries to understand something like _that_."

"I'm dyslexic, not retarded, like a certain someone right in front of me, you know?" Okay, it probably wasn't the best idea to provoke the bully even further, but Nico was pretty sure he could take the guy down, even without using his sword. Which, of course, was hanging at his side, always ready to be used, but it seemed as if the Mist covered it up pretty well. "And the language is called Greek.", he added as an afterthought, leaving the 'Ancient' out so that he didn't have to explain that much.

Not that Mike seemed to have heard that part anyway, he looked pretty mad right now about the 'retarded' comment. Sadly, he wasn't retarded enough not to think about a comeback.

"At least _I_ don't sit around here every break, sulking in the shadows and probably cutting myself, like you...!" Now, the emo thing again. Nico felt anger rising in his chest, but for the sake of the mortal boy he tried to control it. Because you do _not_ want to face an angry child of Hades, that's for sure. Not that Mike got that little part. Instead, he saw the other boy tensing and had the courage to grin at him, while continuing to talk. "Stupid emo, thinking you're so much better than everyone else...! Go die, it's what you want anyway, right? Well, not that it's a loss having one less person like you around."

That did it. It was one thing trying to annoy him with these stupid comments - which already worked way too good, sadly - but as Mike started on people who where 'like him' - which probably meant something like emos in general, but it was too easy forgetting that the mortal didn't know about him being a demigod - he really got mad.

So when the bigger guy wanted to push him, probably just to prove his point, even though he should know by now that Nico was way out of his league, the latter got up, dodged and drew his sword. Sure, it would do no good to kill the boy, but he had something different in mind. With one easy move he had his sword directly at Mikes throat, looking at him very serious to get him to understand the situation he was in.

"What-? Where did you-? Is that a real sword?", the older boy stuttered, totally confused about how the other suddenly got that weapon. Seemingly the Mist didn't work if one was being threatened. Good to know. But not that important right now. Nico had other things in mind as he growled at his opponent.

"Yes, it is. And if you call me an emo one more time or try insulting me or people like me again I will make sure that you'll never be able to insult _anyone_ again...!"

The dark tone of his voice and the look in his eyes made clear, that he had meant every word he just said and even Mike seemed to have understood that, because he was white as chalk. As he slowly nodded, Nico lowered his sword a bit and as soon as it was a few inches away the other one turned and ran.

Sighing, the demigod put his sword away. He knew that this move hadn't been the most intelligent one, but well... at least he would be left alone now. With that thought he sat down again, shaking his head for losing his cool like that, before opening his book once more to continue reading.

And he really had his peace. For about five minutes. Then Mike came back and this time a teacher was with him. Actually, not any teacher. It was the vice principal, Mr. Jones, a small but stern man who was at least fifty.

"Mr. di Angelo, would you please accompany me to my office?", he asked, his tone serious.

"Sure." With a shrug, Nico stood up again, gathered his things and put them in his bag, before shouldering it and following the teacher. He had a pretty good idea what was waiting for him, seeing the smug look in Mikes eyes like 'you're about to get into real trouble'. But he just ignored it, not wanting to give the guy that satisfaction.

Instead he tried to look as normal as possible, maybe a little bit confused, as if he didn't know what was going on.

And then, they reached the office and Mr. Jones ushered Nico inside. Mike wanted to follow too - probably just to see the other one getting reprimanded - but the teacher held him back.

"I want to talk to Mr. di Angelo alone. Let's hear his side of the story." With that, he closed the door and left Mike staring at it, probably looking like a fool. Not, that he wasn't looking like a fool when he wasn't staring blankly at closed doors, but still.

Inside, the vice principal told Nico to take a seat, while he himself stood in front of him. "So...", he started, in a tone which made the demigod wonder what Mike had actually said, while looking straight at him. "Mr. Adams just told me, that he went to talk to you and you suddenly started threatening him with a _real_ sword, nearly hurting him. Is that true...?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but it seems Mike has a very vivid imagination. I _did_ talk to him, but he wasn't saying very nice things. And afterwards, he simply went away and I thought he was probably finished. I mean, how could I actually have a real sword with me without anyone noticing?" He spoke, as if he really believed that and he prayed to the gods - well, mostly to his father - that the Mist stayed strong enough to cover the existence of the sword.

And really, as Mr. Jones searched for a sword in Nicos bag - "Sorry, but I have to do this, just to make sure" - he seemed to ignore the real thing hanging right next to the boy. After he finished and returned the bag, he shook his head.

"Really, I always wondered what was up with Mr. Adams, but that he would go _this_ far to try to get someone expelled... it looks like it's not _you_ we have to worry about. You can go now."

And just like that, the young demigod killed two birds with one stone. First, Mike got some appointments with the school psychologist and after it was clear that he was not crazy he got two months of detention for trying to get another student kicked out.

And second, nobody ever called Nico an emo ever again.


End file.
